Russia Against the Rest

Sakwa, Richard

doi:10.1017/9781316675885

Cited by 114 publications

(46 citation statements)

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“…At the end of the Cold War in 1989, Europe was faced with two potential pathways into the post-communist era (Sakwa, 2017b). The first was outlined by Gorbachev (1988) for a continent in which a plurality of social systems coexisted without necessarily coming into conflict.…”

Section: From Common European Home To Greater Europementioning

confidence: 99%

Sad delusions: The decline and rise of Greater Europe

Sakwa

2021

Journal of Eurasian Studies

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The end of the Cold War was accompanied by the idea that the fall of the Berlin Wall represented the beginning of the unification of Europe. Mikhail Gorbachev talked in terms of a “Common European Home,” an idea that continues in the guise of the project for a “Greater Europe.” However, right from the start, the transformative idea of Greater Europe was countered by the notion of “Europe whole and free,” whose fundamental dynamic was the enlargement of the existing West European order to encompass the rest of the continent. This was a program for the enlargement of the Atlantic system. After some prevarication, the enlargement agenda proved unacceptable to Moscow, and while it continues to argue in favor of transformation its main efforts are now devoted to creating some sort of “greater Eurasia.” There remains a fundamental tension between Atlanticist and pan-continental version of the post-–Cold War international order in the region. This tension gave rise to conflict and war: in 2008 (the Russo-Georgian War) and again from 2014 (Ukraine), and to what some call the Second Cold War. The continent is once again divided. However, pan-continentalism is far from dead, and although Greater Eurasian ideas have thrived, some sort of Greater European continentalism remains on the agenda. Is this, though, no more than a “sad delusion” or a genuine possibility?

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Section: From Common European Home To Greater Europementioning

confidence: 99%

Sad delusions: The decline and rise of Greater Europe

Sakwa

2021

Journal of Eurasian Studies

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“…We argue here that this is a structural feature of post-Cold War international politics. Two very different and incommensurate models of post-Cold War order were advanced after 1989 (Sakwa 2017a , pp. 12–19).…”

Section: Post-cold War Reconstruction Of the West And The Internationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With the USA under Trump withdrawing from multilateral commitments to focus on bolstering its ascendancy in the world of states (the second level), Russia (and China) inevitably stood up in defence of multilateralism, in which they have such a major stake. This is far from a revisionist position, and instead neo-revisionism defends the present international system but critiques the historical claim of the liberal international order to be identical with the multilateral order itself (Sakwa 2017a ). Of course, the US-led liberal order has indelibly marked international society, but this does not entail a proprietary relationship to that society (Dunne and Reut-Smith ( 2017 ).…”

Section: Post-cold War Reconstruction Of the West And The Internationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Greater Russia: Is Moscow out to subvert the West?

Sakwa

2020

Int Polit

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Russia today is presented as out to subvert the West. The chosen means are meddling in elections and sowing discord in Western societies. Russia in this imaginary looms over an unsuspecting West, undermining democracy and supporting disruptive forces. No longer couched in terms of the Cold War struggle between capitalism and communism, this is a reversion to great power politics of the rawest sort. However, is this analysis correct? Is Vladimir Putin out to undermine the West to achieve his alleged goal of re-establishing some sort of post-Soviet 'greater Russia' imperial union in Russia's neighbourhood, to weaken the Atlantic power system and to undermine the liberal international order? The paper challenges the view that Russia is trying to reconstitute a Soviet-type challenge to the West, and provides an analytical framework to examine the dynamics of Russian foreign policy and on that basis assesses Russia's real rather than imaginary aspirations.

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“…7 On the other, some analysts have claimed that Russia is promoting a liberal world ordersimply a different variant of liberalism, incorporating state sovereignty, national interest and cultural pluralism. 8 How far can constructivist theories of norm diffusion capture say, Turkish military intervention in Iraq (2007) and Syria (2017) as well as Turkish developmental aid policies in Somalia? How far do such theories capture Brazilian intervention in Haiti through the UN peacekeeping mission under the left-wing government of the Workers' Party, and the expansion of Brazilian leadership in UN peacekeeping missions since then under the subsequent centre-right coalition?…”

Section: Ethics and Oilmentioning

confidence: 99%